Perspective in a Picture

Pakistani children who survived heavy flooding lie covered with flies- roadside in
Nowshera Pakistan on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

This photo haunts me. Actually many of these photos haunt me, but mostly this one because I can't imagine having to endure your kids being covered in flies with nothing to feed them and little more that you can do.

Part of the inspiration behind my last post (The HOPE Index) was the floods in Pakistan and the silliness of all the non-stop news about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Glenn Beck, etc. and how ridiculous we have become as consumers of "news"/info. I am as guilty as the next person of keeping up with the latest Hollywood/Washington buzz, but when I catch myself complaining about something or listening to my friends bemoan some relatively trivial inconvenience, I want to shout: ARE YOU KIDDING... ARE YOU HOMELESS, HUNGRY, AND COVERED IN FLIES? THEN SHUT UP!!!

I get we all need a release and it isn't healthy to be constantly focused on all that ails the world, but I do think a dose of real perspective might help: Me, You, and for goodness sake those twits that have nothing better to do than drugs, fear mongering, paparazzi posing, and porn. 

Here's hoping you are having a wonderful day, and if not, I wish that your troubles fly by and don't land too long.